Whites now perceive anti-White bias as exceeding anti-Black bias

Evidence

Although some have heralded recent political and cultural developments as signaling the arrival of a postracial era in America, several legal and social controversies regarding ”reverse racism” highlight Whites’ increasing concern about anti-White bias. We show that this emerging belief reflects Whites’ view of racism as a zero-sum game, such that decreases in perceived bias against Blacks over the past six decades are associated with increases in perceived bias against Whites—a relationship not observed in Blacks’ perceptions. Moreover, these changes in Whites’ conceptions of racism are extreme enough that Whites have now come to view anti-White bias as a bigger societal problem than anti-Black bias. — Michael I. Norton and Samuel R. Sommers, Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game…, 3

Categorization

• XREF: Core evidence for the threatened-privilege / zero-sum-belief reading: the paradox of the dominant group claiming victimhood while the subordinate group reports declining discrimination. — connects to: Whites believe racial progress has overshot equality into anti-White bias. — Michael I. Norton and Samuel R. Sommers, Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game…, 24; Whites’ belief in reverse discrimination vastly exceeds firsthand experience of it — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1991; White Christian nationalist beliefs predict perceived anti-white discrimination — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian…, 93 (+1 more)
• ADDENDUM: Structurally mirrors ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ — dominant-group moral indignation read as status preservation, now on the axis of race rather than dress.

Related

• Whites believe racial progress has overshot equality into anti-White bias. (similarity 0.82)
• Whites’ belief in reverse discrimination vastly exceeds firsthand experience of it (similarity 0.80)
• White and black Americans hold systematically divergent beliefs about racial inequality (similarity 0.78)
• Michael I. Norton and Samuel R. Sommers — Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game That They Are Now Losing (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Whites believe racial progress has overshot equality into anti-White bias. #corroborates (1.00) — Michael I. Norton and Samuel R. Sommers, Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game…, 24
• Whites’ belief in reverse discrimination vastly exceeds firsthand experience of it #corroborates (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1991